JPH06266774A - Video data preserving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a video data preserving device where the necessary part of the video fetched from a video camera is efficiently recorded and preserved by making the part into a data base. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a long range video storage part 5 recording and preserving the designated video of the video fetched by video cameras 11, 21 and 31 which are temporarily stored in a short range video storage parts 18, 28 and 38, an attribute information storage part 6 storing attribute information including contents images for the retrieval of video to be recorded and preserved in the long range video storage part 5 and trigger conditions, etc., at the time of recording and preserving video in the long range video storage part 5 and an image storage control part 4 recording and preserving prescribed amount of video which is temporarily stored in the short-range video storage parts 18, 28 and 38 when the trigger conditions are arranged, and the device is further provided with an alarm part generating alarm information at the point of time when the trigger conditions are arranged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video data storage device for storing video images captured by a video camera, and more particularly to a video data storage device for storing video data collected for surveillance purposes in a database. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 is a conventional image applied to a device for confirming an accident monitoring image (hereinafter, this function is referred to as a traceback) shown in, for example, the Mainichi Shimbun evening edition on August 4, 1992. It is the whole block diagram which shows the data retention device. In the figure, 1 is a road which is a monitoring target site, and 11 is a video camera for obtaining an image for monitoring the road 1. Reference numeral 14 is a sensor that monitors the condition of the road 1, and is, for example, a vehicle detector or a traffic flow measuring sensor. An abnormality determination circuit 13 determines whether the characteristic amount detected by the sensor 14 is in a steady state. For example, the circuit is configured to determine that the detected characteristic amount is abnormal when the detected characteristic amount indicates a value outside a predetermined range. Has been done. Reference numeral 50 is an image memory unit for storing an image input from the video camera 11 for a certain period of time, and 3 is a monitor for viewing the image. Reference numeral 51 denotes an image input from the video camera 11 and an image memory unit 50.
This is a switch for switching the image stored in the monitor and inputting it to the monitor 3.

Next, the operation will be described. In normal times, the video memory unit 50 continuously captures the video input from the video camera 11 in a ring shape, and overwrites and stores the newly input video on the old video. Therefore, the old video that has passed a certain period of time is sequentially erased by the new video. On the other hand, when the abnormality determination circuit 13 generates an abnormality detection signal based on the characteristic amount detected by the sensor 14, the video memory unit 50 that receives the abnormality detection signal stops capturing the video signal from the video camera. Here, the switch 51 normally sends the image of the video camera 11 to the monitor 3, and when the abnormality determination circuit 13 detects an abnormality, the switch 51 is switched to the image before and after the abnormality stored in the image memory unit 50. Monitor 3
Send to. In this way, when the abnormality determination circuit 13 detects an abnormality due to the presence of the image memory unit 50, the image from immediately before the abnormality is detected to the image immediately after the abnormality can be traced back and viewed on the monitor 3.

[0004]

Since the conventional image data storage device is configured as described above, it is possible to check the images before and after the abnormality is detected, but there is no mechanism for saving the contents. Even if there is, there is only a means of recording the contents of the video memory unit 50 in order on a video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as VTR), and therefore, a great amount of labor is required to retrieve the video later, and
As a function to check the video later, there is also a VTR (Time Lapse VTR) that can record for a long time by reducing the number of frames saved per second when saving a moving image, but in this case also the video at the abnormal point is searched There was a problem that it took a lot of time.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an image data storage device capable of automatically recording a video image in the vicinity where an abnormality is detected and also facilitating retrieval. To aim.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video data storage device for recording and storing, for a long period of time, a specified one of the video captured by a video camera which is temporarily stored in a short-term video storage section. Attribute information that stores attribute information including a long-term video storage unit, a table-of-contents image for searching the video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit, and a trigger condition for long-term video recording and storage in the long-term video storage unit The storage unit and the image storage control unit that records and stores a predetermined amount of video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit in the long-term video storage unit when the trigger condition is satisfied.

Further, in the video data storage device according to the invention of claim 2, the sensing part is provided with the image recognition part for performing feature extraction of the video output from the video camera.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the video data storage device, wherein video cameras are arranged at a plurality of sites so that the respective videos are temporarily stored in the short-term video storage section, and the image storage control section is provided with The image storage control unit has a function of recording a predetermined amount of images temporarily stored in a plurality of relevant short-term video storage units in the short-term video storage unit as a set and recording and storing in the long-term video storage unit.

Further, in the video data storage device according to the invention of claim 4, from the time point a certain time before the time point when the trigger condition judging section judges that the trigger condition is satisfied, until the trigger condition is resolved, or The image storage control unit has a function of recording and storing the image from the change in the feature amount detected by the sensing unit until the detection of the elapse of a predetermined time in the long-term image storage unit.

Further, in the video data storage device according to the invention of claim 5, during the period when the trigger condition is not satisfied,
The image storage control unit is provided with a function of dropping frames temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit and recording and saving one image at a time in the long-term video storage unit.

Further, the image data storage device according to the invention of claim 6 comprises an image recognition unit for extracting a feature of the image output from the video camera to the sensing unit, and various sensors for detecting the feature amount indicating the situation of the site. The trigger condition determination unit determines whether or not the trigger condition for recording and storing the image is satisfied, based on the combination of the outputs of the image recognition unit and various sensors.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the video data storage device inputs the abnormal signal from the abnormality notifying means for generating an abnormal signal when manually operated to the sensing section.

The video data storage device according to the invention of claim 8 uses, as one of the sensors, a sound sensor that analyzes sound information to detect a brake sound, a collision sound, an emergency vehicle siren sound, and the like. It is a thing.

The video data storage device according to the invention of claim 9 uses, as one of the sensors, a weather sensor for detecting weather conditions such as wind direction, wind speed, temperature, and rainfall.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the image data storage device performs the feature extraction of the image in the image recognition section by paying attention to the change in the color distribution or the luminance distribution of the image output by the video camera. is there.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the video data storage device stores the image output from the video camera in the attribute information storage unit at the time when the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied. It is used as an image.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the image data storage device uses an image at the time when the feature amount detected by the sensor is at a maximum or minimum or an image at a time when the feature amount is out of a predetermined range as a table-of-contents image candidate, A desired image is selected from the selected images and registered as an index image in the attribute information storage unit.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video data storage device which stores video data recorded and stored in a long-term video storage section.
The table of contents screen is a combination of images of a plurality of scenes.

Further, the video data storage device according to the invention of claim 14 is provided with an encoding processing unit for encoding the video captured by the video camera, and the video encoded by this encoding processing unit is stored in the short-term video storage. When the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, the predetermined amount of the encoded image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit is recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit. To do.

According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the video data storage device, when the coded data amount of the coded video deviates from a preset range or when the motion vector detected at the time of the coding is detected. A trigger condition judging unit is provided for judging that the trigger condition for storing the image in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied when the change is out of a preset range.

The video data storage device according to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention comprises an alarm unit for generating alarm information for notifying the occurrence of an abnormality when the trigger condition judging unit judges that the trigger condition is satisfied. It is a thing.

According to the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the video data storage device is such that a predetermined keyword is made to correspond to a combination of a plurality of trigger conditions stored in the attribute information storage section.

[0023]

When the trigger condition judging unit judges that the trigger condition is satisfied based on the output of the sensing unit, the image storage control unit in the invention according to claim 1 temporarily stores in the video camera. By recording and saving a predetermined one of the captured images in the long-term image storage unit, it is possible to automatically record and save the images before and after the occurrence of an abnormality.

The sensing unit according to the second aspect of the present invention is provided with the image recognition unit to extract the characteristics of the image output by the video camera and output the result to the trigger condition determination unit.

Further, the image storage control unit in the invention of claim 3 has a plurality of short-term image storage units for temporarily storing the images captured by the video cameras arranged at a plurality of sites. By storing and storing in the long-term image storage unit a set of each of the images temporarily stored in the, the situation of the site where the anomaly occurred and its surroundings are also recorded and stored, and the spread analysis of the anomaly and the anomaly are performed. Make it easier to find the cause.

Further, in the image storage control unit according to the invention of claim 4, the characteristic amount detected by the sensing unit changes from a time point before a certain time before the trigger condition is satisfied until the trigger condition is eliminated. By storing and storing the image in the long-term image storage unit until it is detected that a predetermined time has passed since the end of the image, it is possible to prevent the recording and storage of the required image from being completed.

Further, the image storage control unit according to the invention of claim 5 drops frames temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit during a period in which the trigger condition is not satisfied, and stores them in the long-term image storage unit. By recording and saving one screen image at a time, a situation before and after an abnormal situation can be saved with a small amount of data.

The trigger condition judging unit in the invention of claim 6 judges whether the trigger condition is satisfied based on the combination of the output of the image recognition unit of the sensing unit and the outputs of various sensors. It is possible to record and save video in.

In addition, the sensing unit according to the invention of claim 7 also employs an abnormal signal issued by the manually operated abnormality notifying means, so that an abnormal situation in which automatic detection by the sensor is difficult occurs. It can be dealt with.

Further, the sound sensor according to the invention of claim 8 analyzes the sound information and detects a brake sound, a collision sound, a siren sound of an emergency vehicle, and the like, thereby determining a characteristic amount indicating a situation such as a traffic accident. Detect.

Further, the meteorological sensor according to the invention of claim 9 can record and save the image when the weather condition in which danger is predicted is detected by detecting meteorological information such as wind direction, wind speed, temperature and rainfall. To

The image recognition section in the tenth aspect of the invention detects an abnormality such as a fire by extracting the feature of the image by paying attention to the change of the color distribution or the luminance distribution of the image output by the video camera. Easy to detect.

The attribute information storage unit according to the invention of claim 11 stores the image output from the video camera at the time when the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, as a table-of-contents image. To facilitate the retrieval of images recorded and stored in the image storage unit.

Further, the attribute information storage unit in the invention of claim 12 uses, as the table-of-contents image candidates, an image at the time when the feature amount detected by the sensor is maximum or minimum, or an image at the time when the feature amount is out of the defined range. By using the selected image as the table-of-contents image and storing it as the table-of-contents image, it is possible to register the table-of-contents image in which the characteristics of the image are more easily understood, and to facilitate the retrieval of the recorded and stored video.

Further, the attribute information storage unit in the invention of claim 13 stores a combination of images of a plurality of scenes as a table of contents screen, thereby further facilitating retrieval of recorded and stored images. .

The encoding processing unit in the invention of claim 14 encodes the image captured by the video camera, so that the image is temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit and further recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit. Compress moving image data.

Further, the trigger condition judging unit in the invention of claim 15 is the motion detected when the coded data amount of the data string of the coded video is out of the preset range or when the coded data amount is detected. By determining that the trigger condition is satisfied when the change of the vector is out of the preset range, it is possible to detect the abnormality in the video without performing the complicated image recognition process.

Further, the alarm unit in the sixteenth aspect of the invention notifies the occurrence of an abnormality to the surveillance staff by generating alarm information when the trigger condition judging unit judges that the trigger condition is satisfied.

Further, in the video data storage device of the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the combination of a plurality of trigger conditions stored in the attribute information storage section is associated with a predetermined keyword to record and store them. It will be easy to search for the video that is displayed.

[0040]

【Example】

Example 1. Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a site (road) to be monitored, 3 is a monitor, which is the same part as those of the related art which are denoted by the same reference numerals in FIG. 10, and 11, 21, 31 are denoted by reference numeral 11 in FIG. Video cameras similar to the ones we did, 13, 2
The reference numerals 3 and 33 are the same abnormality determination units as those denoted by reference numeral 13 in FIG. 10, and the reference numerals 14, 24 and 34 are the same sensors as those denoted by reference numeral 14 in FIG.

12, 22, 32 are video cameras 11,
From images input from 1 or 23, for example, No. 42 to No. 4 of Mitsubishi Electric Technical Report Vol. 66 No. 7 (1992).
The Directional-Temporal plane Transf-or shown in the article "Traffic flow image measurement" published on page 5
An image recognition unit that measures a feature amount by image processing such as the m method and determines whether the feature amount is in a normal state. 16, 26 and 36 are the image recognition units 1
Sensing for grasping the condition of the road 1 monitored by the video cameras 11, 21 and 31 and composed of the sensors 2, 22, 32, the sensors 14, 24, 34 and the abnormality determination units 13, 23, 33. It is a department.

Reference numerals 15, 25 and 35 denote the sensing unit 1
A trigger condition determination unit that determines whether or not long-term image storage is required based on the abnormality determination results from the abnormality determination units 13, 23 and 33 in the image recognition units 6, 26 and 36 and the image recognition units 12, 22 and 32.
Reference numerals 8, 28, and 38 denote short-term image storage memories serving as short-term image storage units (short-term image storage memories) for temporarily storing the images captured by the video cameras 11, 21, and 31. Four
When the trigger condition determining unit 15, 25, 35 determines that the trigger condition that requires long-term storage of the image is satisfied, the location of the image temporarily stored in the short-term storage image memory 18, 28, 38 An image storage control unit for recording and storing a fixed amount in a long-term image storage unit described later. Reference numeral 5 denotes the above-mentioned long-term image storage unit for recording and saving a designated one of the images temporarily stored in the short-term storage image memories 18, 28, 38 for a long period of time, and 6 denotes this long-term image storage unit 5 The attribute information storage unit stores therein the trigger condition when the image is stored in, and the attribute information such as a table of contents image for searching the image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit 5. 2 is a trigger condition judging unit 15, 25, 35, and a short-term storage video memory 18, 2
8, 38, the image storage control unit 4, the long-term video storage unit 5, the attribute information storage unit 6, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the image storage control unit 4. In the figure, 17,2
Reference numerals 7 and 37 are input terminals to which the video signals from the short-term storage video memories 18, 28 and 38 are input, and 40 is a signal indicating the determination result in each trigger condition determination unit 15, 25 and 35. Input terminal. Reference numeral 41 is a CPU block that controls the entire image storage control unit 4, and reference numeral 42 is a bus to which the CPU block 41 is connected. 43 is connected to the bus 42, and under the control of the CPU block 41, the video memory 18 for short-term storage,
It is a long-term video storage processing unit that records and stores a predetermined amount of the video signal temporarily stored in 28 and 38 in the long-term video storage unit 5. Similarly, 44 is an attribute that stores the trigger condition when the video is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5 and the attribute information including the index image for searching the video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit 5. This is an attribute information storage processing unit that controls access to the information storage unit 6. A display block 45 is connected to the bus 42 and controls the display of the monitor 3 under the control of the CPU block 41.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the video signals input from the monitoring video cameras 11, 21, and 31 are respectively input into the video memories for short-term video signal storage 18, 28, and are temporarily stored. The video memories 18, 28, 38 for short-term storage are composed of, for example, a rewritable semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk, and by controlling the write address of data, the input video is continuously captured in a ring shape while the old video is stored. Is designed to be overwritten with new images and erased sequentially. On the other hand, the abnormality determination circuits 13, 23, 3 in the sensing units 16, 26, 36
3 and the abnormality determination results output from the image recognition units 12, 22, and 32 are trigger condition determination units 15 and 25, respectively.
35 is input. Trigger condition determination unit 15, 25, 35
Then, it is determined from the input abnormality determination result whether or not the images before and after the abnormality is detected are to be recorded and stored for a long time. In the case of long-term recording and storage, the location where an abnormality is detected, the abnormality determination result of the sensing units 16, 26, 36 at that time and the feature amount are input to the image storage control unit 4 as trigger conditions.

In the image storage control unit 4, when the trigger condition is satisfied from the input terminal 40, the CPU block 41 causes the long-term video storage processing unit 43 to monitor the place where the trigger condition is issued. A video camera, for example, an instruction to execute the process of storing the contents of the short-term storage video memory 18 in which the video camera video is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5. At the same time, the attribute information storage processing unit 4
In accordance with an instruction from the CPU block 41, the reference numeral 4 reads one frame in the video, which allows the video and other video to be distinguished, into the internal memory as a digitized still image, and sets the image to the image size to be displayed at the time of retrieval. A table-of-contents image is generated by reducing by a method such as thinning processing. Then, the table of contents image, the storage address on the long-term video storage unit 5 for storing the video, and the attribute information such as the trigger condition at that time, the date and time when the video is recorded and stored, and the location are stored in the attribute information storage unit 6 as a set. To do. In this embodiment, a table-of-contents image is created from one frame when the trigger condition occurs in the video and stored in the attribute information storage unit 6.

Next, a description will be given of which part of the image input from the video cameras 11, 21, 31 to be stored as a moving image file in the long-term image storage section 5. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a state in which an image to be stored for a long time is selected from the feature amounts detected by the sensors 14, 24, 34.
The vertical axis of the figure is the feature amount, and the horizontal axis is time. Note that the broken line A measures the feature amount, and thus the sensing units 16, 26,
36 indicates a threshold value for judging that the abnormality judging circuits 13, 23, 33 are abnormal, and a broken line B indicates a threshold value for judging that the abnormal state has recovered. The sensing units 16, 26, 36 generate a trigger when the feature amount exceeds the threshold value A and reach the value of the abnormal state, and the abnormality trigger condition determination units 15, 25, 35.
To notify. If the trigger condition is met at this time, the image storage control unit 4 is notified that the trigger condition is satisfied, and when the image storage control unit 4 receives the notification that the trigger condition is satisfied, the image storage control unit 4 receives the time T before the time. Is set as the storage start time of the video file. Here, the video memory 1 for short-term storage
Since images for a fixed time are always stored in 8, 28, 38, the time T is set in advance within the range of the time. The time when the feature amount exceeds the threshold value B is set as the end time, and the video during this time is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5 as a video file.

Next, the video search will be described. First C
The PU block 41 tells the attribute information storage processing unit 44 that
The table-of-contents image of each video is read from the attribute information storage unit 6 and sent to the display block 45 to be displayed on the monitor 3. The display block 45 displays the table-of-contents image sent from the attribute information storage processing unit 44 on the monitor 3 as shown in FIG.
Display side by side on the screen of. When the operator selects a desired image from the list of index images by using a pointing device or the like (not shown in FIG. 1), the attribute information storage processing unit 44 is stored together with the index image. The video storage address is read and sent to the long-term video storage processing unit 43. The long-term video storage processing unit 43 displays the video stored in the storage address of the long-term video storage unit 5 on the monitor 3 through the display block 45.

Here, when displaying a list of index images, the attribute information stored together with the index images is stored so that the operator can easily select a desired image from the list of index images. For example, the place and the date and time may be displayed on the monitor 3 together with the table of contents image.

Example 2. In the first embodiment described above, when an abnormality is detected at a certain monitoring point and a trigger for storing and storing the image for a long period of time occurs, only the image of the point is stored for a long period of time. When occurs, the image of that point and the image of another monitoring point at the same time may be stored together for a long period of time. For example, when monitoring the traffic flow on the road 1, it is assumed that an accident occurs at a certain point. At this time, it is expected that a rear-end collision will occur or a traffic jam will occur behind it, and the image of a point adjacent to the accident site is also useful. Figure 5
A display example of a point adjacent to is shown. Therefore, the plurality of video cameras 11, 21, 31 and the sensing units 16, 2 are
A set of 6, 36 is installed along the road 1 at a certain interval. Now, the traffic flow sensor, which is one of the sensors 11 arranged at the point A, detects an abnormality and generates a trigger,
It is assumed that the trigger condition determination unit 15 determines that the trigger condition is satisfied. At this time, the image storage control unit 4 stores in the long-term image storage unit 5 three images of the point A and the points B and C which are adjacent to the back side of the traffic flow from the point A. Then, the storage addresses of the three videos, the table-of-contents image of the video at the point A, and the attribute information such as the date and time when the trigger for storing and storing the set of the three videos, the location, and the trigger condition are stored in the attribute information. Store in part 6. In this way, if the image of the scene of the accident and the image of the road condition behind it are also stored together, it is very effective in processing and analyzing the accident.

Example 3. Further, in the above embodiment, the sensor 1
Although a vehicle detector or a sensor that detects traffic flow measurement is used as 1, 21, 31 and the output thereof is used as a feature amount, the sound sensor is used as the sensor 11, 21, 31 and the detected sound is detected. The information may be used as a characteristic amount for generating a trigger. For example, when monitoring road traffic, the video cameras 11, 21 and 21 are set at regular intervals on the road 1.
A sound sensor is installed together with 31, and the volume and frequency at that point are constantly monitored. Abnormality judgment circuit 13, 2 at the point
In 3, 33, the volume range and frequency range in normal times at each point are stored in advance. If an abnormal sound such as a sudden braking sound, a collision sound, or an explosion sound is generated at each point,
Since the sound sensor detects sound information out of the normal sound volume or frequency range, the abnormality determination circuits 13, 23, 33 notify the image storage unit 2 of the abnormality. Also, the abnormality determination circuit 1
In 3, 23, and 33, the frequency pattern of the siren sound emitted by the emergency vehicle is stored in advance, and the matching process between the frequency pattern and the frequency pattern of the sound input from the sound sensor is always performed. Then, when these two patterns match, it is determined to be abnormal.

Example 4. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the image recognition units 12, 22, and 32 perform recognition processing such as the DTT method, and the output thereof is used as the feature amount. However, it is input from the video cameras 11, 21, and 31. Changes in the color distribution and the luminance distribution of each frame may be used as the feature amount obtained from the image. That is, in the image recognition units 12, 22, 32, the video cameras 11, 2
A histogram of color and luminance is taken for each frame of the video image input from 1 and 31, and the amount of change from the previous frame is measured. In normal times, the change in the histogram is gentle and the change is small. On the other hand, when there is an abnormality, for example, when an explosion occurs or a fire occurs, there are many brightnesses and colors of a certain specific value such as flame color and smoke color appearing in the frame at that time, and before that. The difference is significantly different from the color distribution and the luminance distribution of the frame, and the change amount becomes large. The image recognition unit determines that the change is abnormal when the amount of change exceeds a preset threshold value. Such a change in color distribution or brightness distribution does not have the ability to identify an object in the image as in the recognition process, but it is possible to detect a large change in the image even when there is no abnormality. Yes, it is useful for risk prediction and risk avoidance. Further, since these can be easily obtained from the video signal, it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the image recognition units 12, 22, 32.

Example 5. In addition, weather information may be used as a feature amount for trigger generation. That is, the sensor 11,
21 and 31 are equipped with meteorological sensors such as thermo-hygrometers, rain gauges, wind anemometers, etc. at each monitoring point, and the thresholds of rainfall and wind speed that are judged to be dangerous at each point, as well as normal times at that point. The temperature range and the like are stored in advance in the abnormality determination circuits 13, 23, 33 at the respective points. The value input from each meteorological sensor is the abnormality determination circuit 1 in advance.
When the risk threshold value stored in 3, 23, 33 is exceeded or the normal threshold value is exceeded, it is determined to be abnormal. As a result, a trigger is generated not only when an abnormality occurs but also when a danger is predicted, which is very effective for disaster prevention activities in advance.

Example 6. In the above embodiment, the trigger is generated based on the detection signals of the various sensors 11, 21 and 31. However, an abnormality notification means such as an emergency notification button or a fire alarm is installed at the monitoring point. The trigger may be generated whenever any of those buttons is pressed. In this way, various sensors 11, 21, 3
By using 1 and the abnormality notification means by manual operation together, it is possible to cope with an abnormal situation that cannot be detected only by the sensors 11, 21, 31.

Example 7. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a threshold value for determining that the abnormal state has been recovered for a certain characteristic amount is set in advance, and when the characteristic amount exceeds the threshold value and returns to the normal value, the long-term memory storage of the image ends. Although the case has been described, the long-term storage / saving of the video may be terminated when a certain time has elapsed without any change in the feature amount. By doing so, it becomes possible to deal with the feature amount that does not recover from the abnormal state until the accident processing is completed.

Example 8. Further, in the above embodiment, the frame at the time of the trigger is stored as the index image in the attribute information storage unit 6, but a plurality of frames before and after the trigger occurrence time are also stored as the index image. Good. When it is difficult to grasp the situation in the field with only one frame at the time of trigger occurrence, if the plurality of frames before and after the trigger occurrence time are stored together in the attribute information storage unit 6 as a table-of-contents image in this way, the characteristics of the image will be improved. It will be easier to grasp, and it will be easier to search the recorded video. FIG. 6 shows a display example when an image obtained by combining four frames is used as a table-of-contents image.

Example 9. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the table-of-contents image is automatically registered has been described, but the operator may select and register the most characteristic frame that can distinguish the video from other videos. That is, after the trigger condition is generated, the image is stored in the long-term image storage unit 5 for a long time, and at the same time, the feature amount of the point where the trigger is generated is constantly monitored in the image storage control unit 4. Then, in addition to the trigger occurrence time,
Frames at the time when the feature amount takes a maximum value or a minimum value, and further when the feature value exceeds a preset threshold value are extracted, and the image of each frame is displayed on the monitor 3 as the index image candidate. When the operator selects a desired image from the displayed images, the attribute information storage processing unit 44 stores the image in the attribute information storage unit 6 as a table of contents image.

Example 10. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which all table-of-contents images stored in the attribute information storage unit 6 are displayed as a list to search for a video, but a part of the attribute information of the video to be searched for is known in advance. in case of,
The attribute information can also be used as a search condition. For example, suppose you want to search for a video of a fire accident at point A.
In the case of a fire accident, a certain part in the image suddenly becomes bright, and the change in the luminance distribution between frames is large. Therefore, it is considered that "change in luminance distribution" is the trigger condition for the desired image. Therefore, the following two pieces of attribute information are used as search conditions.

Search condition 1 Location: Point A Search condition 2 Trigger condition: Change in luminance distribution

Therefore, the attribute information storage processing unit 44 reads out the table-of-contents images of the video having the above two attributes from the attribute information storage unit 6 and displays them on the monitor 3 as a list. The operator selects a desired image from the images at the point A and the change of the luminance distribution is abrupt, so that the desired image can be efficiently searched.

Example 11. Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the video is searched, the case where the trigger condition when the video is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5 is used as the search condition has been described, but the feature amount when the trigger is generated is described. It is also possible to use a combination as a keyword for a search condition. That is, when the trigger occurs in the attribute information storage unit 6, all the abnormalities of the characteristic amounts obtained by the sensing units 16, 26 and 36 are stored as the attribute information of the video, and the abnormalities of the characteristic amounts are stored. Match combinations to different keywords. For example, a combination of "motion vector abnormality" and "abnormal frequency sound (brake sound)" is associated with the keyword "collision accident". When the operator inputs the keyword “collision accident” during image search, the attribute information storage processing unit 44 causes the attribute information storage unit 6 to detect two characteristic amount abnormalities, “motion vector abnormality” and “abnormal frequency sound generation”. Is stored as attribute information, and the table-of-contents image of the video is extracted by the monitor 3
List in.

Example 12 When the combination of feature amount abnormalities at the time of trigger occurrence corresponds to a keyword as in the above-described Example 11, when the attribute information is stored in advance, the keyword is also stored in the attribute information storage unit 6. Good.

Example 13 Further, in the above-described embodiment, only the video when the trigger is generated is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5, but as shown in FIG. Then, one screen may be stored in the long-term video storage unit 5 at regular intervals. This makes it possible to save a small amount of data even before and after the occurrence of the abnormal situation, which is effective for analyzing the abnormal situation and investigating the cause.

Example 14 Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the image input from the video cameras 11, 21, 31 is stored in the long-term image storage unit 5 as it is has been described. However, the image is once encoded and then stored in the long-term image storage unit 5. Good. FIG. 8 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of such a video data storage device, and 60 is an encoding processing unit for encoding an image from the video camera 11. Here, the encoding method by the encoding processing unit 60 will not be described in detail here, but it will be described in a paper published in, for example, the September 1991 issue of Nikkei Computer Graphics, pages 171 to 178. There are MPEG and the like.

The video signal input from the video camera 11 is coded in the coding processing unit 60 and then temporarily stored in the video memory 18 for short-term storage. Image storage control unit 4
When the trigger condition input unit 15 inputs that the trigger condition is satisfied, the coded data stored in the short-term storage video memory 18 is recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit 5. Further, when searching and displaying the video, the CPU block 41 in the image storage control unit 4 causes the display block 4 to operate.
5 causes the long-term video storage unit 5 to read the coded data of the video, decode the coded data, and display it on the monitor 3.

Example 15. Further, in the above-mentioned Example 14,
Although the case where the video is encoded and stored for a long time has been described, the data amount of the encoded data can be used as the feature amount of the video. That is, since the amount of change between each frame is encoded in the moving image encoding process by the encoding processing unit 60, the amount of encoded data changes greatly when a large change occurs in the video. Therefore,
The amount of data increases when there is sudden movement in the video, and the amount of data decreases when the motion that has been moving until then stops. Therefore, the trigger condition determination unit 15 measures the data amount of the encoded data output from the encoding processing unit 60, and when the data amount is out of the preset range, the trigger condition is determined to be abnormal. Try to judge that it is ready. Accordingly, it is possible to detect an abnormal movement change in the video to some extent without performing complicated image recognition processing.

Example 16. Further, in the above-mentioned fifteenth embodiment,
The case where it is determined that the trigger condition is satisfied because the abnormality occurs when the data amount of the encoded data is out of the preset range has been described, but the motion vector detected at the time of encoding by the encoding processing unit 60 is It may be determined that the trigger condition is satisfied, assuming that the abnormality occurs when the change is out of the preset range,
The same effect as that of the above-mentioned fifteenth embodiment is obtained.

Example 17 Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the image at the time of abnormality is automatically recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit 5 has been described.
The observer may be notified that an abnormality has occurred. FIG. 9 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of such a video data storage device. In the figure, reference numeral 7 is a speaker as an alarm unit (speaker) for generating the alarm sound. When the image storage unit 2 receives the trigger generation notification from the sensing unit 16 and determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, the image storage unit 2 records and saves a predetermined video signal in the long-term video storage unit 5 and causes the speaker 7 to generate a warning sound. Then, the observer is notified of the occurrence of the abnormal situation.

Example 18. In the above embodiment, the long-term image storage unit 5 and the attribute information storage unit 6 are separately provided, and the video cameras 11, 21, 31 and the sensing unit 1 are provided.
I showed the one with multiple sets of 6, 26, 36,
One storage device is a long-term video storage unit 5 and an attribute information storage unit 6.
It may be shared by the video camera 1
The set of 1, 21, 31 and the sensing units 16, 26, 36 may be one.

Example 19 Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the invention is applied to the system for creating and storing the database for road traffic control is explained, but it is applied to other systems as long as it captures the moving image of the site to be monitored and makes it into the database. It is also possible to achieve the same effect as the above embodiment.

[0070]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, when the trigger condition is satisfied, the designated one of the images captured by the video camera temporarily stored in the short-term image storage section is long-term. The image information is recorded and stored in the image storage unit, and the attribute information including the trigger condition and the table of contents image at that time is stored in the attribute information storage unit, so when an abnormality is detected by various sensors or by image processing. When the occurrence of an abnormality is detected, it is possible to automatically record and save the images before and after the occurrence of the abnormality, making it easier to identify the cause of the failure, and to store the attributes stored in the attribute information storage unit. There is an effect that the video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit can be easily and efficiently searched based on the information.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the image recognition unit provided in the sensing unit is configured to extract the characteristics of the image output by the video camera. Therefore, it is based on the image captured by the video camera. There is an effect that it is possible to detect an abnormality.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the image storage control unit is configured to record the images captured by the video cameras arranged at a plurality of sites in the long-term image storage unit. It becomes possible to record and save the situation where the abnormality has occurred and the situation around it, which has the effect of facilitating the analysis of the spread of the abnormality to the surroundings and the investigation of the cause of the abnormality.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, not only the start time of recording and saving of the image but also the end time of recording and saving is determined based on the characteristic amount obtained from the sensing unit. The image is recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit until the abnormal situation returns to a normal state or reaches a steady state, and there is an effect that recording and storage of a required image does not end halfway.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the images in the period in which the trigger condition is not satisfied are also frame-dropped, and the images of one screen are recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit at regular time intervals. Since it is configured, the situation before and after the occurrence of the abnormal situation can be saved with a small amount of data, which is effective in analyzing the abnormal situation and investigating the cause.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, it is configured to judge whether or not the trigger condition is satisfied based on the combination of the output of the image recognition section of the sensing section and the outputs of various sensors. There is an effect that it becomes possible to record and save the image under the circumstances.

Further, according to the invention of claim 7, since the abnormality signal from the abnormality notifying means which is manually operated is also used, even when an abnormality which is difficult to be detected automatically by the sensor occurs. There is an effect that the image can be recorded and saved.

Further, according to the invention of claim 8, since the sound sensor for analyzing the sound information is used as one of the sensors, the brake sound, the collision sound, the siren sound of the emergency car, etc. are detected. This makes it possible to detect the occurrence of an abnormal situation such as a traffic accident by sound.

Further, according to the invention of claim 9, since the meteorological sensor for detecting the meteorological information such as the wind direction, the wind speed, the temperature and the rainfall is used as one of the sensors, only when the abnormality occurs. Not only that, a trigger is generated when the weather conditions are such that danger is predicted, so that it is also effective for disaster prevention activities in advance.

According to the tenth aspect of the invention, since the feature of the image is extracted by paying attention to the color analysis of the image or the change of the luminance distribution, it is possible to easily detect an abnormality such as a fire from the image signal. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the image recognition unit.

Further, according to the invention of claim 11, since the output image of the video camera at the time when the trigger condition is satisfied is used as the table-of-contents image, the table-of-contents in which the characteristics of the recorded and stored images are well understood. An image can be created, and it is easy to search for images recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit.

According to the twelfth aspect of the invention, an image at the time when the feature amount detected by the sensor is at a maximum or minimum or an image at a time when the feature amount is outside the predetermined range is set as a table-of-contents image candidate. Since the one selected from among the above is stored as the table-of-contents image, the table-of-contents image in which the characteristics of the image can be more easily understood can be obtained, and the video stored and stored can be searched more easily.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the invention, since the table-of-contents image is composed of a combination of images of a plurality of scenes, it is easy to grasp the characteristics of the recorded and stored images, and the retrieval can be performed. There is an effect that it becomes easier.

According to the fourteenth aspect of the invention, since the video captured by the video camera is encoded, the video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage section and the video stored in the long-term video storage section are recorded and saved. The moving image data of the video is compressed, and these resources can be effectively used.

According to the fifteenth aspect of the invention, when the coded data amount of the coded video is out of the preset range, or the change of the motion vector detected at the time of the coding is preset. Since it is configured to judge that the trigger condition is satisfied when it is out of the specified range, it becomes possible to detect an abnormality in the image without performing complicated image recognition processing, and it is necessary to provide a special image recognition unit. It has the effect of disappearing.

According to the sixteenth aspect of the invention, the alarm information for notifying the occurrence of the abnormality is generated when the trigger condition is satisfied, so that the observer can be alerted when the abnormality occurs. effective.

According to the seventeenth aspect of the invention, the combination of a plurality of trigger conditions is made to correspond to a predetermined keyword, so that it is easy to retrieve the recorded and saved video. There is an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a video data storage device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an image storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the start and end of video recording and storage in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a table-of-contents image in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of search results according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a table-of-contents image in Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram for explaining Embodiment 13 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an overall configuration diagram showing a video data storage device according to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an overall configuration diagram showing a video data storage device according to a seventeenth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an overall configuration diagram showing a conventional video data storage device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Field (road) 4 Image storage control unit 5 Long-term video storage unit 6 Attribute information storage unit 7 Alarm unit (speaker) 11, 21, 31 Video camera 12, 22, 32 Image recognition unit 14, 24, 34 Sensor 15, 25 , 35 Trigger condition judging unit 16, 26, 36 Sensing unit 18, 28, 38 Short-term video storage unit (video memory for short-term storage) 60 Encoding processing unit

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 14, 1993

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 3

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 4

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 5

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 6

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure correction 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 14

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 15

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 16

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0001

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to video data storage device that stores images captured by the video camera, in particular, to a video data storage device that turn into the database the images collected in monitoring purposes.

[Procedure Amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0046

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Next, a description will be given of which part of the image input from the video cameras 11, 21, 31 is stored in the long-term image storage unit 5 as a moving image file. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a state in which an image to be stored for a long time is selected from the feature amounts detected by the sensors 14, 24, 34.
The vertical axis of the figure is the feature amount, and the horizontal axis is time. Note that the broken line A measures the feature amount, and thus the sensing units 16, 26,
36 indicates a threshold value for judging that the abnormality judging circuits 13, 23, 33 are abnormal, and a broken line B indicates a threshold value for judging that the abnormal state has recovered. The sensing units 16, 26, 36 generate a trigger when the feature amount exceeds the threshold value A and reach the value of the abnormal state, and the abnormality trigger condition determination units 15, 25, 35.
To notify. If the trigger condition is met at this time, the image storage control unit 4 is notified that the trigger condition is satisfied, and when the image storage control unit 4 receives the notification that the trigger condition is satisfied, the image storage control unit 4 receives the time T before the time. Is set as the storage start time of the video file. Here, the video memory 1 for short-term storage
Since images for a fixed time are always stored in 8, 28, 38, the time T is set in advance within the range of the time. The time when the feature amount exceeds the threshold value B is set as the end time, and the video during this time is stored in the long-term video storage unit 5 as a video file.

[Procedure Amendment 11]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Name of item to be corrected] Figure 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyasu Taniguchi 8-1-1 Tsukaguchihonmachi, Amagasaki City Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Industrial Systems Research Institute (72) Inventor Haruki Furusawa 8-1-1 Tsukaguchihonmachi, Amagasaki Mitsubishi Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Industrial Systems Research Center

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, a sensing unit for detecting a feature amount indicating a situation of a scene where the video camera captures an image, and a short-term storage for temporarily storing the video image captured by the video camera. A video storage unit, and a long-term video storage unit that records and saves a specified one of the videos temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit for a long period of time,
A trigger condition judging unit for judging whether or not a trigger condition for saving the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied based on the output of the sensing unit; A condition, and an attribute information storage unit that stores attribute information including a table of contents image for searching a video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit; and if the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, An image data storage device, comprising: an image storage control unit that records and stores a predetermined amount of video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit in the long-term video storage unit. 2. The video data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the sensing unit includes an image recognition unit that extracts a feature of a video output from the video camera. 3. A plurality of video cameras for capturing a video image of a moving image, a plurality of sensing units for detecting a feature amount indicating a situation of each site where the video image is captured by each of the video cameras, and a capture of each of the video cameras. A plurality of short-term video storage units that temporarily store each video,
An image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit based on the output of the sensing unit and a long-term image storage unit that records and saves a specified one of the images temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit. Condition determination unit for determining whether or not a trigger condition for saving the long-term image storage unit is satisfied, and the trigger condition, and a table-of-contents image for searching images recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit When the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, the attribute information storage unit that stores the attribute information including the image information temporarily stored in the plurality of short-term image storage units. An image data storage device including an image storage control unit that records and saves a predetermined amount of each of them in the long-term video storage unit. 4. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, a sensing unit for detecting a feature amount indicating a situation of a scene where the video camera captures an image, and a short-term storage for temporarily storing the video image captured by the video camera. A video storage unit, and a long-term video storage unit that records and saves a specified one of the videos temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit for a long period of time,
A trigger condition judging unit for judging whether or not a trigger condition for saving the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied based on the output of the sensing unit; A condition, and an attribute information recording unit that stores attribute information including a table of contents image for searching the image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit; and the trigger condition determining unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, From the time point before a certain time before the trigger condition occurs until the trigger condition is resolved, or until the detection of the passage of a predetermined time after there is no change in the feature amount detected by the sensing unit, An image data storage device comprising: an image storage control unit for recording and storing in the long-term image storage unit. 5. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, a sensing unit for detecting a feature amount indicating a situation of a site where the video camera captures the image, and a short-term storage for temporarily storing the video image captured by the video camera. A video storage unit, and a long-term video storage unit that records and saves a specified one of the videos temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit for a long period of time,
A trigger condition judging unit for judging whether or not a trigger condition for saving the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied based on the output of the sensing unit; A condition, and an attribute information storage unit that stores attribute information including a table of contents image for searching a video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit; and if the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, A predetermined amount of the video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit is recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit, and if the trigger condition is not satisfied, the video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit is stored. A video data storage device comprising: an image storage control unit that drops frames and records and stores one screen at a time in the long-term video storage unit. 6. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, an image recognizing unit for extracting a feature of the video image output by the video camera, and a feature amount indicating a situation of a scene in which the video camera captures an image. A sensing unit having a sensor, a short-term video storage unit for temporarily storing the video output from the video camera, and a long-term recording / storing of a designated one of the video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit. Based on the combination of the image storage unit and the outputs of the image recognition unit and various sensors of the sensing unit, the trigger condition for storing the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is A trigger condition determining unit for determining whether or not the condition is satisfied, and an eye for searching the trigger condition and the image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit. When the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, the attribute information storage unit that stores the attribute information including the next image is changed to a predetermined amount of the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit. A video data storage device comprising an image storage control unit for recording and storing in a storage unit. 7. The video data storage device according to claim 6, wherein an abnormal signal issued by an abnormality notifying unit that is manually operated to generate an abnormal signal is input to the sensing unit. 8. The sensor according to claim 6, further comprising a sound sensor that analyzes sound information and detects sounds such as a brake sound, a collision sound, and a siren sound of an emergency vehicle. Video data storage device. 9. The sensor includes wind direction, wind speed, temperature,
7. The video data storage device according to claim 6, further comprising a weather sensor that detects weather conditions such as rainfall. 10. The image recognition unit according to claim 6, wherein the image recognition unit extracts a feature of the image by paying attention to a change in color distribution or luminance distribution of the image output by the video camera. Video data storage device. 11. The image output by the video camera at the time when the trigger condition determination unit generates a trigger condition is used as the table-of-contents image stored in the attribute information storage unit, The video data storage device according to item 6. 12. The image at the time when the feature amount detected by the sensor becomes maximum or minimum and the image at the time when the feature amount is outside a predetermined range are set as candidates for the table-of-contents image, and a desired image is selected from the candidates. 7. The video data storage device according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the image is selected and registered in the attribute information storage unit as the table-of-contents image. 13. The table of contents screen stored in the attribute information storage unit is a combination of images of a plurality of scenes of the video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit. 13. The video data storage device according to any one of 1, 6 and 12. 14. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, a sensing unit for detecting a feature amount indicating a situation of a scene where the video camera captures the image, and a code for encoding the video image captured by the video camera. An encoding processing unit, a short-term video storage unit that temporarily stores the video encoded by the encoding processing unit, and a designated one of the encoded video that is temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit. Based on the output of the long-term image storage unit for recording and storing the period, and the sensing unit, the trigger condition for storing the encoded image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is set. Attribute information including a trigger condition determination unit that determines whether or not the trigger condition is determined, and a table of contents image for searching the encoded image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit When the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, a predetermined amount of the encoded image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit is stored in the long-term image storage unit. An image data storage device having an image storage control unit for recording and storing the image data in a storage medium. 15. A video camera for capturing a video image of a moving image, an encoding processing unit for encoding the video image captured by the video camera, and a short-term video storage for temporarily storing the video image encoded by the encoding processing unit. Section, a long-term video storage section for recording and storing a specified one of the encoded videos temporarily stored in the short-term video storage section for a long time, and encoded data of a data string of the encoded video. When the amount is out of the preset range, or when the change in the motion vector detected at the time of encoding is out of the preset range, the code temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit is encoded. A trigger condition determining unit that determines that a trigger condition for storing an image in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied, the trigger condition, and an encoded image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit. When the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, the attribute information storage unit that stores the attribute information including the table of contents image for searching is encoded and temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit. An image data storage device comprising: an image storage control unit for recording and storing a predetermined amount of video in the long-term video storage unit. 16. A video camera that captures a video image of a moving image, an image recognition unit that extracts features of the video image output by the video camera, and a feature amount that indicates a situation of a scene where the video camera captures the image is detected. A sensing unit, a short-term image storage unit for temporarily storing an image output from the video camera, and a long-term image storage unit for long-term recording and saving of a specified one of the images temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit. And a trigger condition determination unit that determines, based on the output of the sensing unit, whether or not a trigger condition for saving the image temporarily stored in the short-term image storage unit in the long-term image storage unit is satisfied, An attribute information storage unit for storing the trigger condition and attribute information including a table-of-contents image for searching an image recorded and stored in the long-term image storage unit; If the trigger condition determination unit determines that the trigger condition is satisfied, an image storage control unit that records and stores a predetermined amount of video temporarily stored in the short-term video storage unit in the long-term video storage unit, and the trigger condition determination An image data storage device comprising: an alarm unit that generates alarm information for notifying the occurrence of an abnormality when it is determined that the trigger condition is satisfied by the unit. 17. A combination of a plurality of the trigger conditions stored in the attribute information storage unit, and a keyword for searching a video recorded and stored in the long-term video storage unit are associated with the trigger conditions. Item 17. The video data storage device according to any one of items 1 to 16.